Back in September, Microsoft announced at its Build conference that Windows 8 would incorporate its Xbox Live online gaming service into the PC OS. This has naturally lead many people to believe that the Games For Windows Live service might be discontinued in favor of Xbox Live.

Since the launch of the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8, Microsoft has released a number of Metro-based PC gaming apps, including this week's release of Hydro Thunder Hurricane. With that in mind, we decided to contact Microsoft to find out if they were indeed planning to discontinue Games For Windows Live in favor of Xbox Live for PC gamers.

The response from Microsoft is posted here in full:

Answer is no, Microsoft continues to support the Games for Windows platform, but we are making new investments in Metro style games. For the core PC gamer we launched “Age of Empires Online” last year and “Microsoft Flight” on February 29.

When it comes to the living room, Xbox 360 was the number one selling connected TV device in 2011 and we have 40 million Xbox LIVE members. We are committed to delivering extraordinary entertainment experiences across devices in a uniquely connected way. Xbox LIVE on Windows 8 is a milestone in that journey. With the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you’ll get a taste of some of the features we’re bringing with Xbox on Windows, but we’ll have more to share later this year as we get closer to launch.

So for the moment, it sounds like Games For Windows Live still has some life left in it even as Xbox Live will begin to enter into PC user's lives with the launch of Windows 8, which is expected sometime this fall.